Enjoy and agree with most of your comments on the much-maligned FF, the redheaded stepchild of Defender primaries.
I love force bolt. It is cheap, quick, and effective. I have it slotted presently (one each) for ACC, RNG, and KB. It rarely misses, and the extra KB helps to buy you another half-second or to get that guy over the cliff.
In supporting your melee teammates, Force Bolt is best used to keep knocking the bad guy up against a corner. It keeps the bad guy out of action but in range of your buddy hacking gleefully away. This kind of control plus your bubbles can make an empath unnecessary on small teams.
There are times, though, when you simply have no Defending to do as a FF Defender. This is why it's critical that you either have alternative support powers (Medicine pool, etc.) or slotted attack powers so that you remain busy. Knocking around bad guys simply because you have no other meaningful offense is a waste of time.
I know the OP is posting his /Rad comments and will likely be addressing this ... but I strongly suggest that in the 10-20 levels the FF/- Defender pick up one good attack power to complement the mandatory tier 1 secondary attack power. The snipe attack or high damage attack are good choices. I would stay away from AoEs, as you (you know, the one hero WITHOUT wonderful bubbles) will draw aggro, forcing you to turtle in your PFF or run away.
Not trying to hijack the thread, just wanted to lay it out there.
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Insulation Shield
Description: Basically a version of Deflection Shield that applies to Cold, Fire, Energy, and Negative Energy damage, as well as ranged damage.
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Insulation Shield also protects against AOE and end drain, making it much more useful late in the game; the end drain protection is amazing vs Malta and Carnies.
Ummmm...... I already wrote ALMOST this exact same guide. No way you could have just added a few suggestions or tips to the end of my guide? I swear, reading this over it looks like you were looking over my shoulder when you wrote it.
Most of the information in my guide was gleaned from personal experience and the compiled experiences related by various FF users on the forums. Since our powers are fairly niche oriented, it's understandable that a lot of our information will be relatively similar. Your guide did in fact influence me to write this guide, though perhaps not in the way you would imagine.
I found that I disagreed with some of the uses you suggested for powers, and found that there was no real information in your guide to differentiate it from the pre-ED and pre-pvp forcefield guides that were already out there. I didn't really appreciate having to refer to a second guide for additional information, and I also found the way the information was presented made it difficult to find particular info quickly. It lacked any expression of comparative value of the various FF powers, I didn't agree with your assessment of the value of secondary powers, and lastly, it did a good job of emphasizing all the strong points of the powers and suggesting uses for them, but didn't really discuss some of their drawbacks as much as I thought was important for the target audience of a guide - someone who knew nothing about the set.
Rather than post this beneath your guide and giving you a 1 star rating (thanks for that), I thought that it would simply be more productive to compile my own experiences as a FF defender. So, in conclusion, yes our guides may contain similarities, just as both of them are not really vastly different from any of the other FF guides out there: "here's the powers, here's the generally accepted ways to use them" I don't claim that I have a lot of brand new methods to use FF powerset, but my goal was to create an amalgamation of various FF knowledge that was pertinent to I6, and also included some of my own experiences that may be useful to readers.
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found that there was no real information in your guide to differentiate it from the pre-ED and pre-pvp forcefield guides that were already out there.
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I'll give you the PvP, since I do not PvP at all so of course that was not included (who am I to suggest information for something which I am not experienced in) but not the pre-ED. There are only two other guides out there for Force Field as a primary (unless you know of some others that I don't see on the Guide to Guides post), and these I feel do not do justice to the other non-buff powers in the set, which are needed to much more now that the buffs are lessened. I provide said information.
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I didn't really appreciate having to refer to a second guide for additional information
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Well I figured why re-invent the wheel? Bionexus' guide was already a pretty good guide, why not give him credit for it?
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, and I also found the way the information was presented made it difficult to find particular info quickly.
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Very true, because I wrote the guide not only as an 'index of powers', which is the form you seem to like, but in a more narrative form, which also included many opinions. As with any narrative form, or opinion piece, it breaks the 'fourth wall' to have disjointed lists and spaces. The purpose of the format was not to let people read it quickly between fights, but for them to take a half hour reading it, so that all the information had time to sink in. That way once you read it once, you don't have to read it again, thus you don't HAVE to be able to access parts quickly, since it's all in your head.
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It lacked any expression of comparative value of the various FF powers
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Because I felt that all the powers had equal value. Your opinion may differ, and you are free to it. Why should I rate powers that I would give all the same rating anyways?
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I didn't agree with your assessment of the value of secondary powers,
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Fair enough.
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Rather than post this beneath your guide and giving you a 1 star rating (thanks for that)
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Actually, I didn't rate your guide 1 star, I thought your guide had some quite useful information in it, even if it contained some redundant information as well.
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I thought that it would simply be more productive to compile my own experiences as a FF defender.
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Good for you! 
That's exactly what I was doing.
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them are not really vastly different from any of the other FF guides out there: "here's the powers, here's the generally accepted ways to use them"
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Actually, I only BRIEFLY mentioned the 'accepted uses', because I wanted to concentrate on alternate uses for the powers. Unless my listed 'alternate uses' were listed in some other guide that I don't know of.
Anyways, I suppose the point of this rant is that we seem to have two different views of guides out there. I try to present my guide as one opinion on the ways to use powers, and refer to other guides for differring viewpoints. You seem to want to 'supercede' all of the other guides out there and create a comprehensive guide that should be the only guide that anyone should need to read. I think it is far more valuable for people to read many guides rather than just one, since the one person may miss something (like me not referencing PvP at all).
I believe that reading many guides is far more preferrable than reading just one comprehensive one. I'm still looking for the FF PvP Only guide to complete my set. Gotta catch 'em all! 
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You seem to want to 'supercede' all of the other guides out there and create a comprehensive guide that should be the only guide that anyone should need to read.
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That wasn't really my intent. I suppose we both were going for the same thing, which is to supplement the body of FF info out there. You just did it more efficiently than me.
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Actually, I didn't rate your guide 1 star, I thought your guide had some quite useful information in it, even if it contained some redundant information as well.
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Bleh, sorry for the accusation then. SOMEONE did!
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I felt that all the powers had equal value. Your opinion may differ, and you are free to it. Why should I rate powers that I would give all the same rating anyways?
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I wasn't trying to say there was anything wrong with that, just that it was one of the reasons I decided to write my own guide. Though in retrospect, I rated them all mostly the same, so it ended up being a waste of time.
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I believe that reading many guides is far more preferrable than reading just one comprehensive one.
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I agree. I've played FF for so long that I really want my own guide though! ::whines::
Anyway, thanks for your feedback PhiloticKnight. Hope I didn't come off as too defensive in my response to your comment. I've been kinda irritable lately, but your guide does a great job too. Really, I'm in favor of anyone posting about FF as all, since I'm kind of a forcefield junkie (went and rolled up a mastermind in CoV since they were the class I could still take FF with.) I've always played FF for concept rather than effectiveness, and I keep hoping someone will figure out the secret to having fun with the set and still keeping your teammates happy 
So anyway, take it easy, and enjoy your new little FFer.
Thought this was a ff/rad guide. Where's the Rad?
Currently Playing:
Freedom :
Winter Princess Cold/Ice Def
Princess Nightshade Dark/Dark Def
Dark Hand of Flame Fire/Dark Scrapper
Mind Sniper AR/MM Blaster
I really liked your overview of everything, and gave me a lot to think about. I play a FF/Rad defender, and Bots/FF Mastermind, so I am always looking for opinions on the powers. Overall, really good and I agree with pretty much everything that was stated.
I would like to add though, Your title is a little misleading, and was your introduction. I was expecting some info on Rad seeming as how good intellectual information about it seems to be sparse (at least to me), but whatever. Maybe in an update?
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Thought this was a ff/rad guide. Where's the Rad?
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that's what i'm wondering.
This is my first go at a guide, but I've been playing since CoH beta and noticed that there has been a bit of a dearth of ED compliant guides out there. While I was unable to find the guide I was looking for (TA this time), I thought I would do my part to contribute to the body of knowledge out there and share what info I have in case it might be useful for someone else.
Detention field doesn't have to hold an enemy while you kill his friends, it can also be a substitute for running away and healing up. If you really want to land the detention field, make sure to hit the target with a quick rad blast to lower his defense a tad, since wasting this power can be irritating, thanks to its long recharge.
Why do we need a new FF/rad guide?
Well, I will admit that ED has not vastly altered the general functionality of FF, but the game world in which we play has a difference face than it did a year ago. In order to maintain interest in my bubbler, I've tried various respec options, changed the way I use my abilities, and have experimented on various balances between primary and secondary powers. Therefore, I feel that while previous guides on the powerset still have good and applicable information, I6 and ED warrant a fresh look on the life of a bubbler.
Format and Content of this Guide
I'm going to stick to the power-by-power layout, as I have found that it is an efficient way to help people find the information they want. I won't be getting into the numerical details of powers, except in the cases where it may be pertinent to make a point, since they can be found more reliably in other places. While this is primarily a guide to the forcefield power set, I do plan on including information pertinent specifically for FF defenders using /rad secondary. This, of course, won't negate the value of this guide for other ff/* and */ff characters, but just be aware that my comparative value of certain powers may be contingent on the radiation blast secondary.
. . . and on to the guide!
Force Fields
As a brief overview before I discuss particular powers, I'd just like to explain my view of the force field primary defender set. This is what I would consider a buff/control set that focuses on mitigating damage to the team by both passively increasing their defense and actively preventing the enemies from attacking, predominantly through the use of the knockback status effect. Many players focus on the passive buff aspect of the powerset, because of it's low micromanagement and relatively sparse endurance use, but the more active form of defense has recently become more effective and more necessary. Defense changes and ED have prevented the passive powers from providing enough defense alone to justify choosing the powerset, however knockback graphics and ED freeing up slots to use in the active powers have made them marginally more appealing. With these things in mind, I will list all the powers in the set with a brief description, and a short commentary on usefulness in the context of FF/rad based entirely on my own opinion.
Personal Force Field (PFF)
Description: This toggle power increases the user's defense against all attacks, and reduces any damage they do take by around half. While it's up, no powers that target other players or enemies may be used, and the effect of any AE powers you use will only affect you.
Commentary: This is a power that does not actively help you arrest enemies or protect your team mates, but I've found that it offers solid benefits across the whole level range. As a young player, it allows you safety of travel that other pre-travel power heroes can only dream of.
In the mid game it gives you a way to bail out of troubling situations with relative safety, and also offers you a defense against the massive agro you tend to pull if you run around knocking bosses over. You can use it to pretend-tank by hitting a group with an AE attack (irradiate works well, because of its long defense debuff) and then turtling up while your teammates pick off the enemies in greater safety.
In the end game, you can use it to remove the drawbacks from some of the more dangerous powers, such as atomic bomb. Aim, irradiate, atomic bomb, then pop a blue inspiration and put up that PFF, protecting you from immediate retaliation.
Another use for PFF that is relatively new is PvP related. Very few powers can stop buildup + assassin strike, but PFF is one of them. Throw up a dispersion bubble to make yourself look like a good target, but keep PFF up and wait for someone to try and snipe you, thinking you'll be easy prey. I would advise against standing around flaunting your invincibility, however, as PFF can be dropped like any other toggle if someone gets a lucky hit in.
Recommended slotting:
PvE - 1 Def
PvP - 3 Def, 3 Rech (or less, as desired)
My Rating: 3/5
Deflection Shield
Description: This is a click power with a fast recharge and a few minutes duration that protects a single target against smashing and lethal damage, as well as melee damage. It increases their defense, not their resistance. You can't use it on yourself.
Commentary: Despite the defense nerf reducing this shield to 15% base, and despite ED cutting in half the amount we can enhance it, Deflection shield is still a fantastic buff. With 3 SO enhancements, you get a bit less than 24% out of it, which can still make a remarkable difference in your target's survivability. The use of this power hasn't really changed over time: just keep it on all your teammates as much as you can.
Recommended slotting:
3 Def (possibly 1 end rdx if needed)
My Rating: 5/5
Force Bolt
Description: This power targets a single enemy and attempts to knock it down. It has a decent range, fast activation, low end cost, and inherent accuracy bonus. In pvp, it has a moderate change to knock toggles off an enemy.
Commentary: Despite being essentially a long-range version of power thrust, force bolt manages to be considerably more useful. The accuracy bonus means it works well with little slotting, and with its fast activation, it doesn't really use up that much of your time to keep an enemy permanently on its butt. This is my boss soloing power, but it also works well to pick melee targets away from ranged allies and reposition single enemies into an area effect. Because of the ragdoll effect, enemies take slightly longer to recover from knockback than before, which means that knocking single targets away as the power becomes available will mitigate a little bit of damage in teams, though in solo fights I usually only use it at the beginning of a fight (bonus points if you knock them over a ledge and they take awhile to get back to you.)
Note that if you group frequently and focus on area effect damage, force bolt tends not to shine very much. It is much more useful against single targets or small groups, where the removal of one enemy represents a more significant reduction in damage.
Recommended slotting:
Since ED prevents you from doing much else with your slots, may as well make force bolt more effective!
2 Acc, 1 Rech rdx
My Rating: solo: 5/5 group: 3/5
Insulation Shield
Description: Basically a version of Deflection Shield that applies to Cold, Fire, Energy, and Negative Energy damage, as well as ranged damage.
Commentary: Basically the same as Deflection Shield. If you are short on powers or enhancement slots during the first 20 levels, this power is much less essential than Deflection Shield, as smashing and lethal damage comprise probably 90% or more of the damage your team will be taking.
Recommended slotting:
3 Def (1 end rdx if needed)
My Rating: 4/5
Detention Field
Description: Detention field is basically a combination of 2 effects. First and most important, it prevents the target from using any powers on anyone besides themself. Likewise, it prevents anyone else from using powers on that target. This is essentially the same as if the target phase shifted itself. Secondly, it inflicts an immobilize effect on the target, which seems to be magnitude 4ish. It will immobilize most bosses, but anyone with status protection or break free inspirations will still be able to move. The duration is around 30 seconds, and the power will be recharged by the time it wears off if you put 2 SO recharge rdx enhancements in it.
Commentary: A lot of people don't like this power, because it prevents them from attacking the target, but it can prove invaluable when battling groups of enemies with particularly irritating foes mixed in. Some examples of useful targets: healers, malta sappers, paragon protectors or any enemy that uses moment of glory or elude, carnie illusionists (heck, they're phase shifted half the time anyway, may as well keep them there until you're ready), sky raider force field generators, and so on.
Also remember that, while you can't use rest in PFF, you can use rest while that freakshow tank boss is sitting in his detention field
This is kind of an interesting power in PvP, because although most people have some resistance to immobilize (and carry break frees), there is no way to directly resist the detention field itself (save having high enough Def to cause it to miss.) If a fight is going bad (heck, you're a FF/rad defender, many of them probably will) just slap that thing on them and let them stew a bit. Alternatively, in group PvP, isolating that controller or tanker who's giving your team a bunch of flak can definitely help turn the tide.
Lastly, I feel inclined to say that this power, despite it's multitude of uses, is really only is helpful when soloing, or when fighting with a group that is a bit over their head. If I have to use this power frequently in a group, then that means the rest of the team is having a hard enough time with the enemies that removing only 1 of those enemies still makes a big enough difference to help us out.
Recommended slotting:
1+ Acc, 2 Rech rdx
My Rating: 3/5
Dispersion Bubble
Description: Dispersion bubble is a point blank area effect toggle that gives everyone within its circumference a defense bonus against ANY attack, as well as protects them from Immobilize, Hold, and Disorient. Unslotted it gives a 10% defense bonus and uses slightly more than one third of your natural endurance recovery rate.
Commentary: Like the two single target shields, this power has always been amazing, and still is. Status protection and defense vs. every damage type, including psionic, for your whole team, all bundled up in one toggle. While the total bonus it adds has been reduced, the psionic defense addition is a nice perk, and it's still a great power either way. With 3 SOs you get a bit less than 16% defense out of it, and unlike the other shields, this one works on yourself as well. The only challenge with this one is keeping as many teammates as possible under it, to which end I usually find myself standing behind the tanks, but in front of the blasters.
Recommended slotting:
3 Def, 1 End rdx
My Rating 5/5
Repulsion Field
Description: Repulsion field is another point blank area effect toggle, though its range is extremely short compared to dispersion bubble. It pulses regularly, attempting to knock back any enemy that is in melee range with you, using additional endurance for each enemy it attempts to knockback. It also has a chance to remove toggles every time it pulses, regardless of whether it inflicts knockback successfully.
Commentary: This is the first FF power that has no real obvious niche, in my opinion. Recent changes have significantly reduced its endurance cost, which makes it much more viable if someone was inclined to use it, but you almost always have to go out of your way to find opportunities to use it. The biggest drawback is that it has a rather limited range, which means that any enemy attempting to strike you in melee with an attack already queued up will be able to run right up and hit you before getting knocked down. Here are the situations that it seems to be moderately effective:
1. Run it constantly, heavily slotted for end rdx, with the goal of knocking away melee attackers after their first strike. This is not a huge amount of damage mitigation, but over time it will reduce the damage you take by a small amount, if nothing else. The idea here is little cost for a bit of extra damage mitigation.
2. Use it to pin a couple specific enemies. The reduction in end cost has facilitated this use, but it still is a pretty costly procedure. The advantage over using forcebolt is that you don't have to make time in your attack cycle for forcebolt. The trade off is that you spend more endurance. Skilled users of this field can trap multiple enemies simultaneously, though the end cost increases of course.
3. Use it to knock all the enemies away from a friend in need. Alternatively, use it to knock ALL the enemies down, then throw up your PFF to absorb the retaliation. Use this with caution, as tankers and scrappers can get kind of frustrated if they're always chasing stuff around.
4. Protect yourself from stalkers. It's pretty challenging for a stalker to get off an AS without being interrupted by RF, even if they are resistant to knockback. Merely having RF up may help deter them. Watch out for the smart stalkers that will sneak up and total focus you from hiding instead of bothering with AS however!
Recommended slotting:
2 End rdx (depending on how much you want to use it)
My Rating 3/5 (I was going to give it less, but after typing out the ways to use it, I started thinking about giving it another try!)
Repulsion Bomb
Description: This power causes an area effect knockback centered on a teammate, as well as inflicts a low magnitude disorient. Be aware that the direction the enemies are knocked back is away from YOU, not the target. The closer you are to the target, the further the knockback distance. If you are able to position yourself directly above your target, for instance, you will mostly knock the enemies downward. It recharges fairly quickly on its own, and the disorient lasts about 10 seconds, but the activation time is rather long (around 3 seconds.)
Commentary: Another rather situational power, repulsion bomb can only be used with a teammate. Yes, I know if you're a controller or mastermind, you've got some solo options, but for us FF defenders, we need a second person. The two challenges with using this power are getting a pack of enemies into the sphere of influence and then keeping them from scattering so much that the power ends up doing more harm than good. I've found that two approaches to this work for me.
The first one involves a group with a tanker. Since they are naturally suited to convincing large amounts of enemies to cluster around them, and surviving the resulting punishment, they make the best target for repulsion bombs. Of course, the tanker would rather you lock down the mobs without moving them, or just heal him, instead of keeping the mobs disoriented, but as a FF defender, you do what you can. Anyway, if you can find someone to work in tandem with, you can have the tanker grab agro, blow the mobs over, and then have him throw taunts and punches around before they wake up to make sure they go for him again.
The second method can be done with anyone (though people with stealth are amusing.) Basically your decoy runs into a pack of enemies and you repulsion bomb them, then toss up your PFF and let your team go to work. With a few disorient durations in this power, they actually stay stunned a decent length of time, and an AE disorient is nothing to shake a stick at (if somewhat hard to actually target, comparatively.)
One last comment that I'd like to make about repulsion bomb is that it synergizes very well with cosmic burst. Neither one alone has enough magnitude to stun a boss, but together they can lock down a boss (if you have a teammate.) Both recharge quite quickly, so a couple recharges and disorient duration enhancements make it a pretty handy combination. Repulsion bomb is really fun on AV's or critters that resist knockback. You can just spam it on the tank and follow up with cosmic burst, and occasionally overwhelm even AV disorient resistance.
PvP note - repulsion bomb can drop toggles, but is not particularly easy to hit enemies with unless you've got a couple tanks going at each other or the like.
Recommended slotting:
2 Rech rdx, 3 disorient duration, 1 end rdx (if you have the slots, 1 rech, 2 dis dur would probably be fine)
My Rating 3/5 (ED, turning all our bad powers into "ok" powers!)
Force Bubble
Description: Force Bubble creates a very large area around you in which all enemies are pushed outward. This power costs a decent amount of endurance, though significantly less than it used to, and also has a small (tiny) chance to knock enemies down if they are within its effect. Enemies resistant to repel can walk through it with little difficulty, and very high-level enemies will be able to make slow progress through it.
Commentary: Force bubble is one of those powers that I love conceptually, but can never seem to find enough uses for to fit into my build. The biggest problem with force bubble is that it pretty much snarks everything off that it touches, so unless your teammates are actively engaging the enemies, they'll start firing on you. The second problem with force bubble is that it pushes the enemies outside your dispersion bubble, meaning tanks and scrappers lose that extra defense and status protection if they're attacking anything outside of the bubble.
Now, problems of the force bubble aside, it still can prove quite valuable. First of all, it gives you immunity to melee attacks at the expense of drawing all the agro. In a large group, all that agro will overwhelm the advantage of melee protection, but when you're solo it's a pretty good deal. It's especially useful if you're fighting bosses, which almost invariably have much more effective melee attacks than ranged (with some exceptions of course.. it would be unfortunate to use it on carnie mistresses or paragon protector energy blasters.) In some cases it makes you almost invincible, such as when you're fighting scrapper or tank bosses, or enemies with ranged attacks that have a short range. If only we could slot FB for range...
Another suggested use for FB is ducking behind a corner and using FB to prevent enemies from coming around that corner. This works to a certain extent, but be careful of doing it in larger hallways, as the enemies will usually make it far enough around the corner to shoot you! It works much better with doorways and small hallways.
One of the big reasons I've been considering force bubble again is PvP. While almost all mobs have ranged attacks AND melee attacks, a large portion of the player base relies on melee attacks only, and force bubble has a lot to offer there. Doesn't do any good against dominators or corruptors, but half the masterminds, and many brutes and stalkers aren't going to be able to do a lot through it.
Recommended slotting:
3 End rdx
My Rating eh... 3/5
Force Field conclusions
As you can see, I mostly rated things 3 or 5. The reason for this being, none of the powers are useless enough to warrant a 1 or 2 in my mind, but many of them are limited to certain circumstances. In a way, most of the powers I rated 3/5 are "1 most of the time, but 5 when you need them."
Force bubble vs. claw scrapper paragon protector = amazing
Repulsion bomb vs. arch villain if you have a tank on your team = wonderful
Detention field vs. tsoo sorcerers = beautiful
Force bolt vs. freak tank = pwnz.
Repulsion field vs. crey infiltrators = meh
Force bubble vs. more than 4 or 5 enemies = ouch
Repulsion bomb in any PUG = uh oh
Detention field in a team of scrappers = useless.
Force field has a lot of options, but previously none of them were every really necessary. Thanks to ED and the defense nerfs, it takes a better group to breeze through purple mobs, and pick up groups with odd combinations aren't always as viable. As such, we have a bit more incentive to figure out how to use the less common powers to prevent us from getting creamed. Unfortunately, most of those options require a cooperative teammate and a skilled FF player, and unlike many other defender sets, many of our powers can actually have a negative effect on the fight.
If empathy heals you when you don't need it, it doesn't actually hurt you, but if you repulsion field the wrong enemy, you slow the group down. If you repulsion bomb the tank, you may cause your blaster to miss their nova. If you run around in repulsion field, the tank may not be able to keep agro, and you can wipe the whole group.
I'm not going to argue that ED and I6 has made FF anything better than an average set, as far as defenders go, but I hope that this guide has helped reveal some of the potential that the set does have. It definitely could use some help, but the "big 3" are by no means the only tricks in our bag. Now that ED has pulled some slots out of our other powers, we may as well use them to enhance our "controller" side and hope that we can do it without pissing off too many scrappers and tankers out there. Be careful when and where you use your powers, and maybe we can start teaching teams how to work with us